You only get one chance
by battousaistrata
Summary: Duo was on a routine mission with Heero when something went wrong. Now he is at the mercy of his greatest enemy, Oz. Duo POV. Duo-torture, violence, gore, language. 2x1x2.
1. Chapter 1

**You Only Get One Chance**

By battousaistrata

_Rated R for language and mature situations. Duo POV.  
_

The cell was dark save for a small window on the door. I hung limply from the ceiling, completely engulfed in chains. My arms were painfully pulled over my head and my feet barely touched the floor. The skin on my wrists was already badly chafed and bleeding from the tight mangles and from multiple escape attempts. All of which failed. How could that be? I was the best lock pick of all the pilots, no lock made by man had ever stopped me, yet these mangles had defeated me.

These soldiers were not your everyday bums, hired in batches of fifty and trained like robots. These guys were smart. After they put me through what even I admit was the worst torture session that I'd ever been through, they'd beaten me, chained me, and hung me from the ceiling like a freakin' rag doll. But I had to give them credit because all of that combined had thwarted my escape plan. Although, even if I did somehow miraculously find a way to free myself from these chains, I doubted that I could even walk, much less stand.

Dammit, how could I, a trained Gundam pilot, a professional killer, have been caught so easily by my enemy? It had just been another routine mission. Just sneak into Oz and steal blueprint designs for new Leos that they were planning to manufacture. However, there had been a problem. When we looked at the blueprints of the Oz base in which the Leo designs were supposed to be held, there turned out to be two operation rooms.

It was probably an extra precaution designed specifically to prevent anyone who might want to get their hands on any important documentation from actually attempting it. In our case, however, it just turned out to be more of a nuisance. It was too risky sending just one Gundam pilot into the base alone to search for the blueprints in both operation rooms. So, being the smart, brave soldiers that we were, we sent two.

Heero and I were sent together. His mission was to investigate the operations room on the east side of the base and mine was to check out the one on the west side. One of us would find and steal the Leo design plans and the other would stealthily sneak back out with nothing. We both were to report back to our Gundams, hidden deep in the woods surrounding the base, in 14 hours and that would be it. Mission accomplished. Easy, right?

Well, that's how it started, but I, of course, had to get the operations room that was the decoy and they were ready for anyone trying to sneak in there. It was a trap, and I walked right into it. It was already too late when I realized that they already knew I was coming.

The moment that I'd picked the lock on the door of the operations room, my sixth sense told me that something was wrong. The fact that there was no security alarm system was suspicious, but the part that really got my instincts screaming was the fact that no one was in the room. Oz officials may not always be good examples of military intelligence at its finest, but even they would not keep important documents in an unsecured, unmanned room.

The next thing I knew, the other two supposedly locked doors in the room flew open and I had myself a room full of Oz soldiers. With the odds definitely against me, my combat instincts kicked in automatically. I immediately kicked out at the closest soldier knocking him unconscious and relieving him of his weapon in the process. I fired off two shots at two soldiers who had moved closer and raised their guns, thinking that I was distracted. Idiots.

I usually have a good sense about when it's time to fight or flee and at that moment, my instincts were screaming at me to flee. So I fled. Guns went off behind me and bullets were ricocheting off the walls around me as I ran. I made it all the way to the end of the hall, mentally running through the blueprints trying to formulate another way out, when one of the bullets lodged itself in my leg. I managed to dart into a corridor before I was bombarded with more bullets, but the sharp pain caused me to stumble and I fell to my knees, barely catching myself with my arms. I looked down at my injured calf. It was gushing blood and I noticed that there was no exit wound, meaning the bullet was still in the leg. Great.

Now it was really gonna suck trying to escape from here with a leg injury. Suddenly, my senses tingled and my body tensed sensing danger. I turned around, but it was too late. The butt end of a rifle smashed the side of my face and my vision went white. It took me a moment to recover and by that time a group of Oz soldiers had completely surrounded me and proceeded to beat the living crap out of me. A few painful moments later, I was dragged up by my arms and flanked by two soldiers. A man in a uniform, whom I presumed was an officer, walked up slowly, withdrawing his gun. He asked me which Gundam pilot I was. I kept my mouth shut, but he was very persistent. When I finally got annoyed and told him to go to hell, I got pistol whipped across the face. You would not believe how much that hurts. I guess that's what I get for opening my damn mouth.

One of the soldiers restraining me said something about making sure I was properly restrained because he'd heard of a Chinese kid escaping from a high security prison cell and single-handedly blowing up the base. Heh. That's Wufei for ya. The officer grunted and then shoved his gun into my stomach as hard as he could. I felt the air leave my lungs and heard something inside crack. Shit, not the ribs. I doubled over gasping from the pain and trying to get some air back in my lungs. It was not meant to kill, just to maim. When I'd regained my voice, I said, "You think that hurt?" Me and my big mouth. When I glanced up to see his reaction, he had his gun raised and struck me above the eye. That was the last thing I remembered before my vision went black.


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke sometime later to someone smacking me across the face. My head felt like jelly and my leg was throbbing. I could feel blood gushing down my leg and the side of my face. Apparently they weren't planning to keep me alive for very long or they would have closed the wounds and stopped the bleeding. When my vision finally cleared, I looked around to see where I was.

I was on my knees with my arms locked in mangles above my head and someone had taken off my shirt. This was not good. I watched as a big, burly guy strode in the room holding a rolled up whip. This was going to hurt. I don't need to tell you what happened next. Let's just say, it wasn't fun and just for the record, salted whips hurt like shit! They hardly even asked me any questions. Sadistic bastards. I blacked out at some point and awoke later by myself in a dark cell.

Thus, here I am, chained up in a cell. Captured. Dammit, I hate being captured.

Everything hurts. I can feel streams of blood running down my face and my head is throbbing. My leg feels like it's on fire and I can still feel blood streaming down my leg. I'm sagging like a freaking rag doll in the chains because I don't even have the strength to lift my body up. The torture session and hanging from the wall for hours had taken a toll on my body and my legs have completely given out. I can hardly lift my head without feeling dizzy and nauseous from too much blood loss. I didn't think the nerves could handle this much pain at one time. Man, this is why I hate getting captured.

However, I had survived the torture session, escaping with only an injured leg, broken arm, a few broken ribs, and various other bruises and lacerations, particularly on my back, which was actually pretty good for my record. I'd been through much worse. I didn't even want to think about any internal injuries.

Someone had at least put my shirt back on me so I didn't freeze to death in this cell, but I could feel it sticking to the drying blood on my back. It was gonna suck getting that off. I stared down at the blood soaked concrete floor, but my vision was already starting to get blurry. Damn, that's a lot of blood. Is that all from me? I didn't even know a body could loose that much and still function properly. Well, I guess 'properly' really isn't the correct terminology seeing as how I can't even lift my head anymore.

At least I didn't talk during the torture…oh sorry, interrogation session. Heero would be proud of that. Actually he'd probably just grunt and go back to ignoring me again, but a soldier can dream, can't he? The only thing I gave them was a thorough list of all the different ways they could go fuck themselves.

They may have failed in their interrogation attempts to get information out of me, but they sure as hell took no chances when it came to restraining me. Not only had they used thick, steel chains to practically dangle my body from the ceiling, but they had also shackled my arms above my head so I couldn't even reach the lock picks hidden in my hair, which meant I was officially fucked. FUCK!!

Oh well, hopefully Heero did better than I did. I wonder were he is? Is he hurt or captured like me? Or is he bleeding to death somewhere in this godforsaken base? Is he even alive? I hope he got the documents and made it out okay. Who am I kidding, he's the perfect soldier, of course he completed the mission. He would finish a mission even if it killed him. Although, I do kind of wish I'd gotten to see him one last time.

Okay, I admit. I have an unhealthy obsession with my partner. It started the first time I met Heero. Something about him, other than his near perfect physique, attracted me. We started out as comrades and we worked really well together. We've been put together ever since. Even at safe houses, we are always roomed together. The problem is that he's never shown any more interest in me than just casual working partners. I guess I'd hoped to at least tell him my true feelings before I died.

Just then, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an explosion going off somewhere on the compound. Ignoring the pounding in my head, I perked up to listen to the commotion outside my cell. There were sounds of running footsteps and people were yelling, but I could only pick up small phrases here and there.

"What the hell was that?" one of the soldiers guarding my cell asked. Another voice, sounding farther away yelled, "C'mon, there was some kind of explosion in Sector D and they're calling for assistance".

"You stay here and guard the rat and I'll go check it out" the first voice responded. Footsteps could be heard moving away quickly and once again I was left alone in the silence.

A few seconds later, a loud gunfire followed by a yell sounded outside the cell. There was a thud that sounded like a body hitting the ground and then silence once again. What the hell was going on? Before I could put my thoughts together, the key code outside my cell door started beeping. The door to the cell slide open, flooding the dark cell with bright, fluorescent light. I slowly lifted my head up to glare at the figure silhouetted in the door.

"I'll never tell you Oz bastards anything, so you might as well just kill me." I tried to put as much hate and malice in my voice as I could, but it probably would have sounded more convincing if my voice didn't sound so weak and groggy. And it probably would have been more intimidating if I hadn't been squinting my eyes and dangling from chains, but I'm a creative guy; I work with what I've got.

However, it clearly did not have its intended effect when the figure started walking toward me. He lifted his gun and aimed it directly at my heart. This was it; they were finally going to kill me. Man, this sucks, I wanted to at lease have a heroic death fighting for freedom in my Gundam. Instead I'm going to be shot dangling from chains and alone in a dark, rotting cell. There's no honor in this. So long Heero.

Slowly the figure's face became more detailed and it was…but no, it couldn't be. I was delusional from too much blood loss. He wouldn't come back here to rescue me. Would he?

As I watched, the figure lowered the gun and moved silently to my side.

"02, can you walk?" Heero asked in his usual monotone voice, but it was _his_ voice none-the-less.

I was still too shocked that Heero was really here to respond.

"02, can you hear me?...02?!...Duo?!"

The moment he used my real name, I knew that it was him because none of the guards knew my name. "Heero?!"

He pulled out a set of keys, that he'd probably taken from the guard outside my cell, and unlocked the mangle from around my right arm. I bit my lip to prevent a cry of pain as the arm fell lifelessly to my side. I was so distracted that I completely forgot that my legs were no longer supporting my weight. Heero released the second mangle and my body started falling helplessly towards the hard, concrete floor.

Thanks to Heero's quick reflexes, he caught me mid fall, but his steel arms squeezed my broken ribs and I couldn't help but hiss from the pain and double over in pain, biting back a string of obscene words. Dammit, I hadn't meant to reveal the full extent of my injuries to Heero, but he _is_ the perfect soldier, he probably would have deciphered it on his own.

Damn, I hate looking weak in front of Heero, so I quickly willed my legs to move and was actually able to get my legs underneath me again, but the moment I put weight on my right foot, it jarred my bullet wound and my legs gave out again. Okay, I was really starting to get tired of this.

Heero caught me and pulled me back against his chest in a position that I would have normally thought to be strangely sensual for Heero if I hadn't been too distracted by the incredible pain that I was feeling. He slowly slid his hand up my chest pressing lightly on different parts of my ribs and listening to my gasps of pain. He was making a medical analysis of my injuries. I tried to push him away, but his strong arms held me in place.

"You have three broken ribs and two more are possibly fractured" he stated in his usual voice. Thank you Captain Obvious.

"I'll be fine, Heero… really" I replied, trying to make my voice sound as normal as I could to hide the true pain I was feeling. Did I mention that I hate sounding weak in front of Heero?

"Hn, this coming from the person who can't even stand," Heero responded with something that sounded an awful lot like humor in his voice. What?! A joke from Heero Yuy? Will wonders never cease?


	3. Chapter 3

Before I had a chance to answer, we both froze at the sound of voices nearby. Heero turned to me, "We need to leave now" he stated, his voice serious once more. I wrestled my body to standing position, gasping as I put pressure on my right leg.

Heero grabbed my left arm, careful not to jar my broken right one, and wrapped it around his neck taking most of my weight. He took out two guns and put one in my left hand. We both knew that he would lose hearing in his left ear if I shot the gun off that close to his ear, but it was better than my useless right arm, hanging limply at my side. He hadn't put the gun in my right hand, meaning he'd noticed that something was off with my arm. Damn.

We both hobbled to the door, where he bent forward peeking around the door. He glanced up and down the hall making sure that it was clear and then he looked down at me. I looked up meeting his eyes and noticed he was scowling, but it was different, more grim than usual, which was understandable.

We both knew that this next part was going to be extremely dangerous. First of all, we are two gundam pilots trying to escape from a high security Oz base. Secondly, I can hardly walk and I'm practically getting dragged by Heero. The odds are completely against us not getting caught or at the very least seen by an Oz guard, but I nodded anyway, letting him know that I understood.

We hobbled through the empty hallways as fast as my leg would allow, Heero busy concentrating on the blueprints of the base and me trying my best not to scream out from the pain. We were doing well until we rounded a corner right into a group of about six Oz soldiers, probably walking to their posts to begin their shifts. How the hell were we supposed to know that Oz soldiers change shifts in groups?

Heero reacted quickly raising his gun and shooting the soldier closest to us, but we both knew that we had to get out of there. Number one, because there were five other soldiers taking out their guns simultaneously and there's no way that both of us can dodge five bullets. And number two, someone else was bound to hear that gunshot, meaning we were about to become surrounded.

We spun around quickly to head back the way we'd come just to see another group of soldiers, who had evidently heard the gunshot, running down the hall toward us. I heard two shots go off next to me and looked up realizing that Heero was distracted, firing shots at the soldiers behind us. He didn't know about the other group headed straight for us. I glanced back at the new group of soldiers to see the front man raise his gun, preparing to fire. Conveniently, there was an open door to the left that my soldier instincts had already located the moment we'd run past it the first time.

Without thinking, I shoved Heero toward the door with whatever strength I had left, just as I heard two guns go off. Damn, someone from behind us must have gotten a shot off to. I felt one bullet pierce my right side and another pass through my hand. I bit my tongue to prevent myself from yelling out from the intense pain. Fuck, I'd forgotten how much it hurt to get shot.

I landed hard on top of Heero, my hands gripping his upper arms, the injured one smearing blood over his bicep. Heero blinked, then pushed me off him and ran to the door closing and locking it. My head was swimming and the ceiling above me was blurring as I tried to clear my vision. The dizziness faded, slowly, and the room came back into focus.

I stayed on the ground, fighting wave after wave of pain, my side burned as it protested the sudden movement. I drew my bottom lip between my teeth, biting down hard until I could taste more blood. Heero did a quick scan of the room and then walked over to where I was still lying on the ground clutching my side feeling worse than I did before and if you didn't think that was possible, you're wrong.

He hauled me upright by my forearms. I suppressed a scream as the movement pulled my side. He kept the grip on my wrists, and yanked me into a recess and slide down the wall to squat in the corner across from me. I gingerly leaned back, hissing as my side made contact with the wall. Heero heaved a sigh and set the gun down beside his foot. "Let me see your hand."

Reluctantly, I extended my arm, my empty stomach turning over as I got my first good look at my hand. There was a neat hole in my palm, but the back of it was gone, a mess of lacerated flesh, blood and bone splinters. The whole thing was bleeding sluggishly, pulsing with every beat of my heart.

Before I could say a word, Heero had reached under his shirt and pulled it over his head. I bite my lip and stared at the ground as he brought the hem of it to his teeth and tore off a long strip. A strangled cry escaped from my lips as he wound the fabric around my hand, a bit tighter than necessary, before tearing off another strip and wrapping that as well. The rest of the shirt he used to wipe away the blood that had trickled down my forearm and shoved the dampened sleeve of my shirt back to mop at the inside of my elbow.

"That should slow the bleeding, for now," he stated, his voice calm and emotionless. "You'll be fine."

He doesn't know about my side. A spark of annoyance lights in the back of my head. Perfect Soldier my ass. His observation skills are down.

He jumped up, grabbed my wrists and hauled me up before I even had a chance to protest. That did it. My whole body became a pounding mass of pain and I screamed out in agony. My vision narrowed down to two just his face as my body went limp.

"Duo?!" He can tell I'm slipping. "Don't die on me, Duo." He looks like he's really concerned, but I'm probably so far gone that my mind is playing tricks on me. I fight to stay conscious, gasping for breath until I finally give into the darkness. The last things I hear are Heero's concerned voice and the sounds of Oz soldiers banging on the door, trying to get in.


	4. Chapter 4

I awoke to the sound of voices. Voices that I recognized.

"Will he be alright, Heero?" Quatre asked in an anxious voice.

"I'm not sure of the full extent of his injuries. He may have internal bleeding and need hospital care, but he won't be mobile for a few days" Heero said in his usual monotone voice, although there was something else in his voice. Something different. Concern? Heero, concerned? Naw.

"What happened?" Trowa asked in his deep voice.

"His mission was a trap and I couldn't locate him for 6 hours after his capture" Heero replied.

The voices started blurring as I drifted off once again, when all of the sudden, I was brought back to consciousness by a sharp pain in my forearm. Despite my best efforts, I cried out from the intense pain. When I finally opened my eyes, I could see Heero was wrapping my right arm, that was currently throbbing, in a sling, Trowa was examining the gunshot wound in my side, and Quatre was watching him intently. I couldn't remember ever having felt so weak.

Slowly I rolled my eyes around the room, afraid that if I moved my head too quickly, then I would loose the contents of my stomach from nausea. I discovered that I was lying in a bed in a room that I presume was the safe house.

My eyes slowly rolled back to Heero. I decided to concentrate on watching him to distract my mind from thinking about other things…like pain for instance. His eyes were focused intently on mending the broken arm that, judging from the pain I was feeling, he had apparently just set himself. I could have sworn that I saw a look of concern in his expression, but I was probably delusional. Heero show human emotions like disgust or concern? Ha, the Sahara desert would freeze over before that happened.

He glanced up and caught me watching him. Damn, well it was inevitable; I swear this guy's got eyes everywhere.

"Duo, how are you feeling?" Stupidest question ever.

I closed my eyes taking a deep breath. When I opened my eyes again, Quatre, Trowa, and Heero were all bent over me with worried expressions.

"Ugh…like I was hit by a freakin semi" I was surprised at how groggy and weak my voice sounded.

Trowa and Heero met eyes from either side of me and proceeded to have a silent conversation with their eyes. I hated when they did that. Trowa's eyes quickly darted to my side and then back up to Heero. Heero then turned to me and said, "Duo, we have to remove the bullets in your side and leg." Damn, I had completely forgotten about that part.

They decided to do my leg first. Trowa got on one side of my and braced my leg above and below the wound. Quatre stood next to me and offered me his hand to hold, which I took gratefully. Did I mention that I don't deal with pain very well. Heero, meanwhile was busy sterilizing whatever instrument he was going to use to literally dig the bullet out from my leg.

I really hope that I don't get a glimpse of that instrument cuz if I do, then whatever's left in my stomach is not going to be in my stomach anymore. Screw being the strong, proud soldier. You try getting shot and let's see how you deal with it.

Heero turned to look at me again with what looked like regret in his expression. Almost like he was apologizing for being about to cause me a shit-load of pain. Nah. It was probably pity for getting myself into this mess and having to pay the consequences. I gave him a slight nod and he bent over my leg.

And then the pain started. No doctors, no hospitals, no painkillers, no anesthesia and no regrets. That's how we Gundam pilots work. But Holy Shit did it hurt. I tried to bite my tongue at first, but gave into the pain and just screamed.

Trowa had to put his whole weight on my leg to prevent it from moving but even that didn't prevent my entire body from thrashing in pain. I squeezed Quatre's hand like it was a lifeline and I guess in some ways, it was. I felt bad for him though because through the haze of pain, I could feel the bones in his hand grinding together.

There was one more sharp stab of pain and then Heero finally pulled the bullet out and dropped it into a metal pan with a small 'clank' sound. The pain slowly lessened but I could feel my leg throb with my heartbeats. I took deep breaths as the feeling of nausea slowly rose from my stomach, but it was causing my ribs to scream out in agony. This day just keeps getting better and better.

Once Heero had finished wrapping up my leg, he caught my eye again and said, "Now we have to do your side, Duo. Are you ready?" I responded with a nod again afraid that my voice would betray how much pain I was actually in.

Again Trowa braced my body with his weight and Quatre grabbed my hand. I told myself that I was going to handle it like a man this time, but the moment Heero started digging in my side, I lost it and screamed bloody murder.

I started feeling very dizzy and my vision blurred. The nauseous feeling rose from my stomach again, but I clamped my mouth shut. I was not going to lose the contents of my stomach in front of these guys. Whatever was left in it.

My vision darkened around the edges until it was just a small point through which I focused on Heero's face, trying to stay conscious as long as I could. Finally after what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes later, Heero pulled the bullet out of my side.

And that's what did it. I was already too tired to fight a losing battle against unconsciousness, but the moment I saw the blood covered bullet, I was gone. Once again, I fell into darkness to the sound of Heero's voice.


	5. Chapter 5

It took a lot of effort to open my eyes, but I forced them open reluctantly. A blank, white wall swam into focus a foot from my face. Thankfully I was lying on my stomach. The pain in my back brought the memories back, but the soft pillow beneath me told me that I was safe. At least for the moment.

With a disgruntled sound, I pushed myself up enough to turn my head to face the rest of the room and then collapsed against the pillow again. Upon scanning the room, I noticed Heero sitting in a chair beside my bed watching me with a sour expression. Great, here it comes. I'm going to get yelled at about fucking up, endangering the mission, and getting captured.

"Why didn't you tell me about your back, Duo?" he asked in a slightly peeved voice. That question caught me off guard and it took me a few seconds to recover.

"Well hello to you too, Heero" I replied, surprised at how rough my voice sounded.

He drew his brows together and scowled even more "This isn't a joke, Duo. You almost bled to death." He was angry, but there was a strange longing in his voice.

I didn't exactly know how to reply to that, so I just said what anyone would have said in that situation. "Sorry?"

"Hn."

Great, now we were back to single word conversations and grunts. But then he surprised me by asking, "How are you feeling?" It was still in his monotone voice, but there was that hint of concern in his voice again.

A minute passed as we looked at each other, and this time I frowned. "You're not going to yell at me about the mission?"

Heero's eyes narrowed, "No, why would I yell at you?" He moved closer, probably checking me for signs of deliria.

"Hmm…let me think, maybe for fucking up the mission and getting caught?" What the hell was I saying; it's not like I wanted to get yelled at.

"No, it was a trap, you were set up. Anyone would have been caught. When you didn't meet me, I tracked you down and decided against termination." That's comforting to hear. In other words, he decided that I was still a valuable asset to the team and didn't want to risk me spilling valuable information. However he _did_ decide not to kill me, which I know is against regulation.

"Well, thank you for rescuing me." I looked at his face and he gave a slight nod, but refused to meet my eyes.

I got another shocker when I asked him if he'd completed the mission and he shook his head. Heero, not complete a mission? What the hell? Wait, that means that he'd chosen rescuing me over finishing the mission. Maybe there is a human side to Heero after all.

Tired of having a conversation while lying on my stomach in a bed, I tried to sit up but my shaky arms gave out underneath me and I collapsed against the pillow with a grunt, my back and right arm burning.

"You need to rest, Duo. You've been out for three days" Heero told me in a calm voice.

"I've been out for that long and I still feel this weak?" Man, I must have lost more blood than I thought. My eyes got really heavy and I tried to stifle a yawn, but failed. I forced my eyes open to give Heero a lopsided grin, which he actually returned.

"Sleep" he said, his voice sounding soft. "It'll be a while before you get your strength back."

I could have sworn that I felt a soft hand stroke my cheek as I drifted off.

It took about 2 days before I was strong enough to get up and walk around without having dizzy spells. It took my body about 3 weeks for my back and bullet wounds to heal, although I was still limping and my arm wasn't fully functional.

During that time, I noticed that something had definitely changed in Heero's demeanor. He took care of me the entire time, bringing me meals, making sure I was comfortable. He even asked me if I needed assistance with taking a bath. Slightly embarrassed, I reluctantly turned the offer down but I mean, damn.

Although, I think I did annoy the crap out of him a couple of times. You see, I'm not very good with laying around, doing nothing and so Heero definitely caught me sneaking out of the room, where I should have been resting and recovering, a couple times. One time I even made it all the way to the stairs, trying to get downstairs to hang with the other guys, but I stupidly decided to catch my breath at the top of the stairs and Mr. 'I Have a Tracker Hidden on You' Perfect Soldier caught me red-handed.

He was always mad at me when he first found me, but the weird part was that he never stayed mad and actually offered to help me. That time when he caught me on the stairs, he actually carried me down the stairs and let me have lunch with the guys. He was extremely gentle when handling me, which was definitely not normal for Heero 'I can bend steel with my bare hands' Yuy.

But he had trouble meeting my eyes, so I knew that he must have been getting tired of taking care of me. Hell, I was getting tired of taking care of me. I was started to get bored crammed in this tiny safe house and a bored Duo Maxwell is not a good thing, lemme tell you. Just ask any of the guys, whom I think were all ready to tie my down and gag me by the end of the 3 weeks.

Just my luck though, because the day that all 5 of us received a new mission was the day that Heero finally consented that my body was healed enough and that I was ready to start carrying out missions again.

Hells yeah. I was ready to kick some Oz butt. Ahh, revenge is sweet.


	6. Chapter 6

The fight was intense. Explosions were going off everywhere. The mission for all five gundam pilots was to annihilate a large power cell, on an Oz base, that powered a laser. Oz was apparently planning to use the laser to quiet some known rebel colonies and factions. The five of us had begun the mission fighting in our usual formation, being in close proximity of each other in order to guard each other's backs.

However OZ had successfully split all five of us up and we were now fighting in separate areas of the base. I was actually the closest to the power cell, but the damn Moble Suits just kept coming, preventing me from completing the mission. I was definitely outnumbered at least five to one, but I just kept fighting. What was worse was that the exhaustion from my ordeal just three weeks earlier was starting to affect my performance and my old injuries were throbbing.

But there was no way that I was going to let Heero know about my current condition since he was the one that grudgingly agreed that I could go on this mission after insisting that I still wasn't fully heal. There was no way that I was going to sink so low as to allow him to believe that his assessment was correct. Speaking of which.

Heero's face popped up on a small vidscreen to my right. "02, status?" he said in his mission voice.

"Well, engine 1 is completely dead, engine 2 is leaking oil, loss of targeting function…"

"What is pilot 02's status" he interrupted with a hint of agitation in his voice.

"Aww, I didn't know that you cared, Heero. Well, let's see, I'm tired and hungry oh, and I need a really long back massage."

"DUO!" Heero practically screamed into the comm, but he'd used my codename and I knew that he was really getting pissed.

"Just the normal bumps and bruises" I replied in a serious voice, which wasn't exactly the whole truth. Actually, I wasn't doing very well at all. One of my harness straps had broken during the fight and I was pretty much getting tossed around the cockpit. So, I didn't so much lie to him as not tell him all the details. He had enough on his plate already and didn't need to worry about me.

"I have regrouped with 03, 04, and 05 and we are coming to get you, but you're completely surrounded and it looks like they're trying to push you into a corner."

Dammit. Those Oz bastards. They'd separated us on purpose so they could take us out one at a time and, of course, they'd chosen me first. Well, better me than the others.

However, my thoughts were interrupted when my proximity alarms started going off. I looked up just in time to see a Mobile Doll slam into me. It struck the right side of the cockpit and exploded upon impact. The force of the blast threw my whole body to the left side. I heard the snap of the second strap breaking right before my head and shoulder slammed into the solid, metal wall.

Everything blurred. Slowly my vision cleared only to see blood running down the instrument panel in front of me, probably from a head wound. Great. One warm fuzzy.

My hearing slowly came back and Heero was yelling at me. "02, STATUS…DUO!!"

"Shit, Heero...these Mobile Dolls just keep coming..I don't know if I can keep this up for much longer" My voice was slightly slurred. Damn, that means concussion. Great, two warm fuzzies in one day.

I tried to lift myself off the instrument dashboard but a sharp pain in my arm caused me to yelp in pain. I looked down to find a sharp, piece of metal sticking out of my arm. Apparently when I'd fallen, my arm had conveniently impaled itself on one of the jagged sections of metal sticking out of the wall.

I counted to three and then pulled my arm off the sharp point, biting my lip to cover the scream of pain. Fuck…that hurt.

I reached for the controls, blood dripping down my right arm, and noticed that my hands were shaky. With a lot of effort, I was able to get Deathscythe standing again from where it lay on the ground after the explosion.

I scanned the screens to get my bearings and believe it or not, right there in front of me was the power cell that we were supposed to destroy. I could see it! It was only about 100 feet away. The only problem was that if I blew it up from here, I might get swallowed up in the explosion. Fuck it, it was for the good of the mission, right.

I slowly raised Deathscythe's left arm, seeing as how the right one was completely unusable, and aimed at the power cell. I turned to look at Heero in the vidscreen.

"Heero, I'm going to complete the mission."

"Duo, what are you doing?" his voice was barely a whisper, but he was staring right at me.

"I'm going to destroy the power cell. Take care of the other guys, especially Quatre. He won't understand."

"No , Duo. Don't do this. We're on our way" his voice was desperate.

I turned to look him directly in the eyes, "Heero, I wish I'd gotten to know you better…more than just a friend. I love you, buddy."

That silenced him. I would have died to see the look on his face, but I turned back to the target and fired.

I heard Heero scream as the explosion completely engulfed my Gundam and the rest was darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing I felt was pain. Which was weird; I didn't think the feeling of pain was normal for someone who was dead, which meant one thing. I was still alive.

However, despite the pain my body was feeling, there was a comfortable warmth radiating beside me. I slowly opened my eyes, but shut them immediately when I was blinded by bright, fluorescent light.

The second time, I opened them slower and scanned the room I was in. It was definitely a hospital room. Stark, white walls, that dank hospital smell in the air, and there was a heart rate monitor beeping above my bed. My right arm was completely bandaged up and was resting next to my head.

I looked down beside me to see if I could locate where the warmth was coming from and almost peed myself. Heero was lying next to me. Well, actually next to me wasn't exactly correct, more like draped on top of me.

I covered my mouth with my left hand to stifle a shocked gasp. I thought that had woken him up, but he only moaned and clutched me even tighter. His face was tucked into the base of my neck and he was breathing down my chest. I could feel his warm breaths through the light hospital gown that I was wearing and my hormones where having a field day.

Why was he in bed with me and why was he grasping me like a freakin teddy bear? And then it hit me. If I survived, then that means that Heero heard my confession of love. My heart fluttered as I thought of the possibility that maybe he returned my feelings.

But this was Heero Yuy that I was talking about. Did he even know what love was? Did he even know how to love? I'd always thought of him as completing the mission at all costs and if you slow him down or get in his way, you _will_ get shot. I always thought of him having hands that could bend steel; not tender and gentle, like the way he was holding me now.

I looked down at him again. His features were relaxed and his breathing even. I'd always imagined him always having his guard up and sleeping with his eyes open, but apparently he felt comfortable enough to sleep next to me. Deep down I wished that I could always wake up like this. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

His hair was messy; spiking out in all directions. I gently brushed one strand out of his eyes and that did it. His eyes shot open. I tensed thinking that he was going to berate me even though clearly _he_ had crawled in bed with me.

Instead, he lifted himself up on his elbows and looked down at me. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice still scratchy from sleep.

"I'm sore, but I'm okay" I replied, my voice also rough.

A few awkward moments passed where we just stared at each other until I finally gave in. "Heero, about what I said…"

"No" he cut me off, covering my mouth with his hand. "I need to say something to you. When I saw your Gundam engulfed in flames, my heart felt like it had exploded and I realized that I didn't want to live on without you. When we finally cut through the metal and got you out of the cockpit, I held your bruised and broken body all the way to the hospital. I realized then that I actually had feelings for you too. Feelings that were more than just friendship. I felt them before when I rescued you from the cell, but I denied them, thinking that it would affect my performance. But when I nursed you back to health for those three weeks, I realized that you are not a weakness, but instead you are a strength and advantage for myself and for others. You are the glue that keeps our dysfunctional team together and it is through your spirit and determination that we find our own strength. I discovered that I also need you in my life. I want you to be the reason that I wake up and keep fighting each and everyday."

My jaw dropped to the floor. I couldn't believe my ears. "Heero, are you saying that you…?"

"Duo, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." At that, he leaned forward and lightly ghosted his lips over mine, whispering "if you'll let me."

I grabbed his neck and pulled him down for a soft kiss. When we pulled away, I said, "Yes, Heero, of course. I love you too and I've wanted this for a long time"

At that he smiled for the first time and bent down giving me one spit-swapping, tonsil-probing, soul-searching, needs-a-private-room-NOW kiss.

I knew at that moment that my life had changed and I had a feeling that I was really going to like it.

Owarii.

**I kind of had to rush through the ending so I could focus on studying for my exams, but after I finish my exams, I plan to write a longer alternate ending.**


End file.
